Books by Xiaobing Li

Western strategists and historians have long speculated about the extent of China's involvement in Vietnam, but it was not until recently that newly available archival materials revealed the true extent of China's influence -- its level of military assistance training, strategic advising, and monetary means during the war.

The Constitution of the People's Republic of China was amended in 2004 to expressly include the protection of human rights, and the last revision of the Constitution in 1982 ostensibly guaranteed civil liberties such as freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly. In actuality, China still resorts to suppressive actions such as strictly controlling accessible content on the Internet and censorship of the media, as well as silencing criticism of government or calls for political reform.Civil Liberties in China explores both theory and practice by identifying key issues in Chinese ideology, government, and human rights. The book assesses historical evidence and empirical data, putting major legal cases in the context of Chinese traditions and culture. Abortion, the one-child policy, and privacy issues are given special attention.

The Vietnam War's influence on politics, foreign policy, and subsequent military campaigns is the center of much debate and analysis. But the impact on veterans across the globe, as well as the war's effects on individual lives and communities, is a largely neglected issue. As a consequence of cultural and legal barriers, the oral histories of the Vietnam War currently available in English are predictably one-sided, providing limited insight into the inner workings of the Communist nations that participated in the war. Furthermore, many of these accounts focus on combat experiences rather than the backgrounds, belief systems, and social experiences of interviewees, resulting in an incomplete historiography of the war.Chinese native Xiaobing Li corrects this oversight in Voices from the Vietnam War: Stories from American, Asian, and Russian Veterans. Li spent seven years gathering hundreds of personal accounts from survivors of the war, accounts that span continents, nationalities, and political affiliations. The twenty-two intimate stories in the book feature the experiences of American, Chinese, Russian, Korean, and North and South Vietnamese veterans, representing the views of both anti-Communist and Communist participants, including Chinese officers of the PLA, a Russian missile-training instructor, and a KGB spy. These narratives humanize and contextualize the war's events while shedding light on aspects of the war previously unknown to Western scholars. Providing fresh perspectives on a long-discussed topic, Voices from the Vietnam War offers a thorough and unique understanding of America's longest war.

A mosaic of memoirs by key Chinese military commanders from the Korean conflict. It draws on their personal papers and archives to offer a behind-the-scenes story of the Communist campaign, including strategy and tactics, propaganda, and mobilization of the Chinese population.